If it was up to me...

I'd tell you I don't have time for this today. I really don't...






















...but since it's obvious to me that my time is not in my hands, but His (Psalm 31:15a), I'll do it anyway.

This very minute I'm thankful for (in no particular order)....

...aspirin and hot showers that ease my painful joints.
...brothers and sisters in Christ who pray for me. I LOVE the body of Christ.
...God's very words that renew my mind and speak truth and hope and grace into my life.
...preschool naptime.

Now back to work.

Photos: The look of fall on Pollywog Creek (before I returned to Mimi duty this week).

Rest...

So good to be home, if just for a few days, though it's hard to ignore the growing list of tasks that are begging to be accomplished while I am here.

Very near the top of that list is rest. After an early, awkward and humbling start to the day (let me just say this - I probably won't be in charge of selling mulligans again) and about five loads of laundry later, I took a short walk around the pond and declared to myself that the time of rest had begun.

Between loads of laundry and my walk around the pond, I was inspired to craft Mary DeMuth's lovely "be ye thankful" banner with twine and card stock I had on hand. (HT - Ann) I'll try to remember to share a photo one day next week.

In the meantime, I am thankful - for a home to "come home" to and clothes to wash, for a husband who loves me and grown children now my friends, for grandchildren to nurture, for friends who show me grace, and for the blood of Christ that covers my many sins...

Photos: On that walk around the pond

Mimi plans, but God determines...

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." ~ Proverbs 16:9

Some things simply cannot be manipulated. I have far less control over my comings and goings than I thought.

Two to three weeks of "mimi duty" have been stretched to four, and the end of this delightful, but exhausting, away-from-home season remains uncertain.

These days with little ones are precious and I wish I could pack them up and take them home with me. But the truth is I'm a homebody. I do not love so much time away - separated from Louis and Emily and the sunlight at dawn that streaks through the tall pines and glitters the foxtails and spider webs dripping with dew.

The hospitality here has been warm and gracious, but I'm a foreigner in this place of gated communities, manicured lawns and a golf course view - temporarily adjusting to different schedules and rhythms and a sharp decline in leisure moments.

This wasn't what I had planned, but it's the Lord who determines my steps, so they must be what is best. Mimi duty it is, and I'll delight in every moment.

Photos: From my Pollywog Creek backyard while home for the weekend.

Sharing in the suffering...

"The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest." Job 30:17

It's a rare Christian who does not walk through what feels like a "Job season" - when pain and suffering appears to press in on every side.

When my husband was staring down unemployment six years ago, after farming citrus for nearly twenty-five years, it was no coincidence that he was able to join Emily and I in our morning Bible study just as we began reading the Book of Job.

The tragedies Job endured were far worse than any we have ever experienced (and Lord willing, we never will), putting our own pitiful sufferings into perspective, but we related to him none-the-less - momentarily wondering what we did to deserve such a fate while being misunderstood and poorly comforted by those we thought were friends.

I've recently picked up Amy Carmichael's Rose from Brier, and while I'm too early in the reading to recommend it as yet, I've appreciated Amy's perspective. It is through her own lens of chronic pain and suffering that she offers hope and encouragement - comforting others with the comfort with which she has been comforted. A kind and loving word from any dear soul is a gift, but it is most treasured and encouraging from those who have walked the same path of suffering.

"For no man can tell what in that combat attends us but he that hath been in the battle himself" ~ John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress

There's a tension in that for me. I don't like dwelling on past or current woundedness, pain and suffering, and I'm quite sure that others would quickly weary of hearing of them, as well...but if words of hope are to carry much weight, it's important to know that I've "been in the battle".

Physical pain is no stranger. I've been assaulted, in a car accident, broken my leg, had emergency surgery for a perforated colon, and experience cycles of pain from crohn's disease flares.

For several weeks I've experienced some of the worst joint pains that I can remember - not just my knees, but my shoulders, hands and feet. Getting out of bed, in and out of the car, up and down stairs, dressing and undressing, sitting, standing, walking - there's very little that I am able to do at the moment without pain, and yet it has been a sweet and precious season of walking in the truth that "the joy of the Lord is my strength" - a powerful reality that I could only know in a season of weakness.  

{Photos}It's Fall Y'all around Pollywog Creek

Mimi duty::knowing the rules...

I'm on another stretch of mimi duty, and it's a little bit easier this time - I know a few more of the rules and just how far I can stretch the boundaries without getting all of us in trouble. For example, Mason can have a snack after his nap if he eats his lunch, and Austin is not allowed to nap past three in the afternoon or play on the stairs. I've even mastered enough of that remote control to change channels, find previously recorded Backyardigans on the DVR, and turn on the Wii. Life is good.

It's a given, of course, that papas and mimis have earned the right to break a few of the rules from time to time, but it does make it more difficult to keep the little ones on the right path most of the time if we're not sure which path their parents want them to take - and self-motivated four-year-olds are not reliable resources for honest and accurate information.

It's much like my spiritual walk, I think. I'm bound to experience significant more cuts and bruises if I try to make my way through life without a knowledge and understanding of where I'll encounter the pitfalls and bumps in the road. There's grace, of course - more than enough for every fall, in every circumstance, and in every season - but the rules, the boundaries, have been given for my protection and joy, that I might avoid unnecessary pain or get lost in the dark.